Carey says NY still fails most vulnerable

Father still speaking out a decade after son's death in state care

Updated 7:28 am, Thursday, February 16, 2017

A decade after his autistic son died at the hands of a care worker, Michael Carey says the state still isn't doing enough to protect its most vulnerable citizens.

Jonathan Carey was just 13 when he was smothered to death in February 2007 by Edwin Tirado, an aide at the Oswald D. Heck Developmental Center in Niskayuna, during an outing to Crossgates Mall. Tirado claimed he was attempting to restrain the boy.

"Jonathan suffered horrendously," Carey said Wednesday in a Capitol news conference. "This death could have been prevented."

Though the family settled their wrongful death suit against the O.D. Heck and the state Office for People with Developmental Disabilities for $5 million in 2011, Carey has remained a relentless though sometimes controversial advocate for reforming state oversight of care workers and facilities for those under state care.

Photo: PHILIP KAMRASS

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Times Union Staff Photograph by Philip Kamrass -- Michael and Lisa Carey wait outside of the Schenectady County District Attorney's office to meet with him about trying to get him to file charges against state officials about the treatment of their son Jonathan, who was autistic, in Schenectady, NY on Tuesday November 27, 2007(for his treatment prior to the incident that caused his death). Jonathan died while under the care of state workers in 2007. Michael holds pictures (that the Careys made) of a bruised and injured Jonathan from December 2005. Through the release of Jonathan's state records due to the passage of Jonathan's Law, the Careys learned that their son was being taken care of by Edwin Tirado on the December day that he received those injuries. Tirado was convicted in the death of Jonathan, from a later incident in 2007. FOR RICK KARLIN STORY. less

Times Union Staff Photograph by Philip Kamrass -- Michael and Lisa Carey wait outside of the Schenectady County District Attorney's office to meet with him about trying to get him to file charges against state ... more

Photo: PHILIP KAMRASS

Carey says NY still fails most vulnerable

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His efforts resulted in a new law requiring greater access to records of complaints about potential abuse cases. He has had less success pushing for measures that would expand the network of surveillance cameras in residential centers. Carey said cameras were the best deterrent to abuse, and the best resource to gather evidence when it occurs.

He said the system of state care was "just as deadly as it was in 2007."

Tirado was found guilty of manslaughter in October 2007 and sentenced to 5 to 15 years in state prison. He'll go before the parole board in September after having it denied on his first eligibility in 2012. Following the death, there were revelations that Tirado had worked excessive amounts of overtime at O.D. Heck.

Nadeem Mall, an aide who had driven the van in which Jonathan died, was sentenced to six months in county jail and probation.

On Wednesday, Carey said that his son had been "assaulted multiple times" while in state care.

Following a New York Times investigative series on the state's porous disciplinary system for care workers, the state in 2012 created a new entity, dubbed the Justice Center for the Protection of People with Special Needs, to address potential cases of abuse. That office, however, has been criticized as being virtually as opaque as its predecessor watchdog.

The Associated Press reported last fall that the Justice Center had no record of forwarding abuse or neglect reports to the state Medicaid inspector general, a legally required step that's a key part of cracking down on problem facilities.